Men's Semifinal: USA vs. Argentina

[SpeedyG]

I think we're finally starting to see the importance of having someone like Kidd on this team. He did absolutely NOTHING throughout the prelims, but his presence has been felt more the past couple of games. He's kind of the calming influence amongst these teams of stars (mainly because he's a star that really plays like a roleplayer on a regular basis...hustle plays, passing the ball, playing smart, all the little things). For someone who's obviously the least talented and least athletic of all our guards (if not all our players), he was the one guy who really understood how NOT to play against the zone (which it seemed the common mantra for all the US players were jack up shots left and right).

He was constantly moving the ball and getting it inside (or at least to someone in the middle, and not 20+ feet away from the basket). You can see that he's much more aggressive with his shots (unlike in prelims), and he's moving the ball around and not allowing it to stick.

Kobe and Melo played like garbage. Yeah they hustled, yeah they defended when they had to. But they set the tone for this team it seems (good or bad). When the US went up early, it was because these two guys set the tone with their outside shots. When Argentina started to make their run, it was because Kobe and Melo kept shooting, and it just spread throughout the team like wild fire (even Lebron had some questionable shots from downtown). And Kobe's reverse dunk that got swatted (just flush it down dammit) and Melo's act was just stupid on both players accounts.

Really, Deron and Lebron should be able to get to the teeth of that zone defense any time they want, instead of the US having to jack up three after three.

Paul started out well, got flustered in the 2nd quarter when Arg went on their run, but then settled after the half.

Oh and Redd was awful. He just held on to that ball, and held on to it, and held on to it before making a stupid pass to Paul.

It will be interesting to see how the US plays against Spain. I can see Spain playing better after the way they got trounced by the US last time, although I can also see the US come out with an edge (and not let go) after today's game.